


Zero Rides The Black Horse

by MysteryMuse



Series: Random Access Memory [19]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Dreams and Nightmares, Ficlet Collection, Nightmare Challenge, Other, Random & Short, Short Drabbles, These are super short, This Is Why Zero Has Permanent Insomnia, Tumblr Challenge, Tumblr Prompt, Weird Ideas, Zero has Nightmares, hints of pairings, rare pairs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 01:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4202535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysteryMuse/pseuds/MysteryMuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble responses to a set of anon prompts themed around 'nightmares' for my Zero on Tumblr. Archive warnings are overcautious more than anything- these things are too short to be graphic. Avoid chapter 5 if major character death upsets you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Paralyzed

_The capsule never opened. The program cradling Zero, wrapped around his core, meant to teach him to fight, kill, and evolve, could only hold up as long as the power supply to the hidden lab held up - and it was never meant to last 100 years. So Zero lay locked in an unbroken dream that turned stranger and stranger as the system powering it began to fail. By the time he was aware he was dying, he was helpless to free himself - his artificial muscles were weak from lack of electrical stimulation, and the programming that would have allowed him to move his limbs had never had the experience of motion to correct itself._

_He becomes paralyzed in his capsule, trapped in a decaying dream. He dies quietly somewhere in the middle of a long, colorless darkness, and the earth continues to pile on above him, burying Wily’s last dream deep under a slowly growing mountain._

When Zero jolts awake, with a yelp, he claws at the inside of the recharger for a few seconds before the glass gives and wheels back. The Reploid sits up fast, hand pressing at the center of his chest while his core spins wildly out of control for almost a full minute.


	2. Devoured

_Zero’s completely relaxed - it’s the first time he and X have been alone together in ages. And X smiles that little smile on that little mouth of his, his hands gently gripping onto Zero’s shoulders to rub his thumbs and the pads of his fingers into Zero’s sore muscles. Zero thinks nothing of it when the hands grip in, when X leans closer, his mouth gently parting…  
_

_… and parting.  
_

_and **PARTING.**  
_

_Zero feels a yelp tear out of his throat when X’s head bursts apart from the smile and drips a wet, clear fluid from inside glistening and inside there are teeth **what the hell revolving teeth…**  
_

**_CRUNCH._ **

Zero wakes up _screaming_ , his hands flailing wildly in front of himself! And finds X leaning in close over him with huge green eyes and hands on his shoulders, gripping in.

Zero yells EVEN HARDER, and X’s mouth opens above him...

“Zero! Zero, it’s okay! It’s me! You’ve been having nightmares all night! Wake up! Please wake up!” 


	3. Replica

_Bickering, tussling, smacking each other around - that’s been Vile and Zero for months. Alternatively raging at each other, fighting side by side, sneaking off for some not-so-illicit hatesex that started to subtly blend into a much stranger relationship… gradually morphing from enemies-with-benefits into frenemies-with-benefits.  
_

_And then Vile told Zero he loved him, and Zero realized somewhere along the line he’d fallen hard for the ridiculous ex-Maverick jackhole, and they somehow made it all work, even alongside Zero’s undying devotion to his other partners, and even in spite of some terrifying, heartrending moments with the triad struggling to cope with this interloper in their romantic lives.  
_

_Nothing good was ever easy, that’s for sure. Eventually the edges smoothed out and the Hunters all got on with business.  
_

_They (Zero and Vile, and a somewhat snide Axl looking on from the sidelines and occasionally threatening them with Sugar and Spice just to keep things interesting) were just fooling around, nothing major, nothing taxing, hands shoving around under clothes, occasional guns or knives to each other._

_And then Vile rippled as he drew back from assaulting Zero’s mouth with his - rippled white and purple and moonstone-white.  
_

_Zero saw this and jumped back like his skin was on fire; Axl cursed and damn near flung himself backward into a wall.  
_

_“… Oh,” said the newgen, prim and cool, now in his own voice. Lumine shrugged, “You were going to find out someday. It might as well be now.”  
_

When Zero wakes up this time, he avoids Vile for more than a week, finding some excuse, and every time he sees the other Hunter, his core plummets into a painful drumbeat of dread. 

 


	4. Edgehog

_At first it wasn’t so bad, being locked into Absolute Mode. Hovering everywhere sure beat walking, and the wings were sooooo sensitive it was ridiculous. But it started to get old really fast - when it became basically impossible to get through doors, his system was constantly overheating and crashing from the load of the armor, and worst of all his fingers were now permanently clawed, making it significantly harder to grasp objects without either a) destroying them or b) having them slide out of his grip.  
_

_Before very long, Zero felt more cursed by the armor, and no attempts to remove it or deactivate its code worked.  
_

_He grew more irritable, more withdrawn, finding it harder to interact with other Hunters due to the ridiculous wingspan and the extra amount of space it took up in every room.  
_

_Before long Zero started avoiding people because he couldn’t get near anyone without accidentally knocking something over due to the wing beats of the armor. The constant overheating was having a terrible effect on his system, starting to warp interior components. He started going Berserk more often, and for less and less rational reasons.  
_

_Finally, he started begging X and Axl to kill him, but because they loved him so, they refused to do it.  
_

_So he fled Hunter Base and crawled off to somewhere quiet and dark to wait for his core to run out, hoping against hope that this time his death would be final.  
_

_It wasn’t._

Zero grimaces, as his eyes flutter open. He raises his hands in front of him and breathes a sigh of relief to see that they’re just normal, white-gloved and clawless. 

Really, what was the old man thinking with that armor anyway? 


	5. Retirement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for major character death. Skip this one if that upsets you.

_The alleyway that they eventually corner Axl in is dirty, and in a bad area of town. Distant sirens clip through the cold air.  
_

_Zero looks at X and shakes his head. Nothing about this is okay. The orders are wrong. He can’t. He can’t do this. He extinguishes his saber and reslots it on its charger, shaking his head even more while his lips form a flat, unhappy line.  
_

_He’s completely blindsided when X shoots both of them without a moment of hesitation. As the pain spreads through his chest, he collapses to one knee, gasping, and is unable to stop the other Hunter as X moves forward and plugs Axl through the head crystal, at close range, with the X-buster. Axl collapses beside Zero, skull pierced and molten red around the edges of the blast.  
_

_“…w-why? X?” Zero manages to gasp out, over the crackling in his audials of some inner components of his own chest catching on fire, starting to burn._

_“It’s time, Zero,” X says softly, moving over him, building another charge shot. “They decided… It wasn’t just Axl I was ordered to kill.” The prototype is weeping. “B-but don’t worry… I’m right behind you, Zero. I won’t do their bidding ever again. J-just wait a moment, okay?”  
_

_Zero’s life ends in a bright blue flare of light._

Zero’s eyes snap open, and he glances around in a panic before realizing - no, he’s not on fire, everything’s fine, everyone’s alive. A quick glance to his left and right confirms his partners safe and fine in their rechargers. 

Zero groans, rubbing his hand over his face, and resolves not to sleep again if THAT’S what he’s going to start getting now.


	6. Kept

_Zero runs, as long as he can - but eventually his body starts to collapse as he loses access to fuel. He can’t risk connecting himself anywhere, so he’s forced to rely on fuel cans, on stolen snatches of thin sunlight - and before long, the deficit becomes too much. He goes down fighting the whole way, but when X and Axl themselves hunt him down, grab his arms by the cracked elbows, and drag him back to Sigma’s throne, his core is singed with acid and grief and he can’t find the will to fight back.  
_

_He expects to die when he’s brought in front of the Maverick - really expects it.  
_

_He was so naive.  
_

_No, they keep him alive - more than that, they perfect him. Every part fixed, every broken chip restored, every smudge on his paint touched up and buffed away.  
_

_But he spends every night writhing under Sigma’s body, the Maverick lord's massive hands clamped over his face and chest, holding him down - fucking him while X watches with cold, green-eyed disdain from the side._

Zero's body shatters the recharger when he tries to escape the dream, tries to bolt away from the nightmare of Sigma’s hands. He hurls himself halfway across the recharger bay before he fully wakes, and finds himself gasping hysterically at the end of a trail of broken safety glass. 


	7. Took The Last

_Zero takes his special plate and slides into his special taco shirt (a shirt that X gave him some indefinite amount of time ago, a silly shirt with a cartoon taco  that has been so worn and loved that the taco logo is barely recognizable now) and heads off for the Base cafeteria, eager to dig in to dem delicious tacos. Mmm, his mouth is watering just thinking about it. Beans and cheese and replicated tomato salsa and that soy beef stuff… mmm! It’s his favorite meal of the week since he got softbodied. And it’s one of the few pleasures he gets that makes his ridiculous life worth living.  
_

_Eager as can be, he strides happily into the cafeteria, ready to collect his delicious prizes and fulfill his weekly ritual.  
_

_Except._

_Except.  
_

_When he gets to the line… there’s no beans left. There’s no “beef” left. There’s barely any replitomatoes and almost no cheese.  
_

_All the new recruits gobbled up the taco fixin’s before him.  
_

_Zero, needless to say, does not take this well.  
_

_“NO TACO TUESDAY? YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! I HAVE NO REASON TO GO ON! **WHAT AM I FIGHTING FOOOOOOORRRRR**?” he cries, falling to his knees and wailing at the top of his lungs.   
_

Zero jolts awake with a cry! And then damn near hits his head on the inside of the charger. THUMP. Ow. While he rubs his forehead, he glowers through the glass. 

Why the heck was he dreaming about tacos? He hates tacos. Everybody knows his favorite food is sashimi. 

Seriously, he’s got to stop eating Axl’s cooking right before recharging.


End file.
